A common joke is that a government teacher earning a salary of 60,000 rupees sends their children to private schools where teachers are paid 15,000 rupees a month. The deplorable state of government education policy did not exist before independence. At that time, none of the national heroes came from private schools, colleges, or universities. However, after independence, private schools and colleges increased so much that even government employees started sending their children to private schools.
Ten years ago, on August 18, 2015, Justice Sudhir Agarwal of the Allahabad High Court ruled that all government employees, MLAs, MPs, ministers, etc., in the state should send their children to government schools. He had urged that this be made mandatory. However, the Chief Minister of the state at the time brushed aside this advice. Justice Agarwal’s point was that if government employees, MLAs, and judges sent their children to government schools, the government schools would definitely be transformed. If his advice had been heeded, the current deplorable condition of government schools would not have occurred. Now, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is planning to close down all the primary schools in the state. Obviously, the monopoly of private schools is behind this.
If there are no government schools, parents will enroll their children in private schools. It is not that the level of education in private schools is very good. However, they have better management and teachers who keep children disciplined. They will give so much homework that the child will be forced to study.
The situation in healthcare services is the same. There are government hospitals, primary health centers, and community service centers in every district. But doctors are not available in them, and if they are, medicines are not available. Many tests have to be done outside. In such a situation, the family members will take the patient to private hospitals, where so many unnecessary tests will be done on the patient that their pockets will be emptied. The government says that we have made Ayushman health cards for some poor people. But, till date, the government has never checked that most private hospitals do not accept Ayushman cards. There is no guarantee that private hospitals will be able to provide good treatment either. In a way, the patient will be looted there too and will return empty-handed. There is no human dignity in the behavior of the management in private hospitals.
In a public welfare government, where is the welfare of the people? Governments around the world that prioritize public welfare provide free treatment to patients. It is a different matter that heavy taxes are deducted from their salaries. But, if treatment and education are free, any citizen does not have any problem in paying up to 51 percent tax. Even if we don’t look at the models of Western countries, our neighboring country Bhutan provides free medical treatment to its citizens. Besides, treatment is free in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Spain, Taiwan, and Cuba. In Brazil, even foreign citizens can get free treatment in government hospitals. Health service is not free in the USA. Treatment there is very expensive but excellent. Whatever treatment is done there, it will be reliable. Also, the USA is ranked first in medical education.
On the other hand, there are many doctors in India, but it is a failure in terms of treatment. Either the treatment is expensive, and there is no guarantee whether the doctor is doing the right treatment or not. Earlier, people used to trust government hospitals because the doctors used to run the hospital, not the management, who were taught the lesson of human dignity. In such a situation, the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is welcome that today the services of education and health are in a bad state. These services are no longer being run as a service but as a business. According to him, there are many educational centers and hospitals in our country. But all these are beyond the reach of the common people. His concern is valid, but who will work to bring these services on track? Because the government in the country is of the BJP.
Taking this statement as a basis, the Congress has now become aggressive against the BJP. But this is not a matter of mutual blame. Rather, every political party has been taking the initiative in the matter of commercialization of these services. Ashok Gehlot, who was the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, did implement the Chiranjeevi Health Scheme and made free treatment up to 25 lakh rupees for every person in the state. EWS families did not have to pay any premium in this. Those who are not pensioners and are not eligible for any government health service, after paying 850 rupees per annum, got the benefit of this scheme, that too for the whole family. But the scheme went into the waste basket after the government left. No such scheme has come up in any other state.
Although education and health are state subjects. But, the central government itself should take the initiative and implement such schemes, which can benefit the people of the entire country. Even if additional taxes are taken for it. This will equalize the level of education across the country. Private schools and hospitals should continue to function because 141 crore people cannot be provided free education nor can so many hospitals be built. But the government can do two things. First, to monitor these services in the private sector and restore government services. Second, a quick investigation into any complaint. Recently, on Monday night, a judge of the District Court of Ghaziabad passed away. Two days ago, he had returned after undergoing a hernia operation from a private hospital.
Obviously, the judge may have had some other illness as well, but the private hospital, in a hurry to complete its package, did not get him tested, and the judge did not recover after a normal operation, and he lost his life. Whereas that hospital is considered one of the big private hospitals in Ghaziabad. After Covid, hospitals showed negligence in the Covid rules, and the result is in front of us. This kind of negligence shows that strict monitoring of private hospitals is necessary. The funny thing is that this is the same private hospital where the Chief Minister himself comes. Until private hospitals and schools are strictly monitored, they will only remain businesses. In the USA, although hospitals are expensive, their license will be revoked for negligence.
Where is the dream of Ram Rajya?
The commercialization of education and health has become such in our country that the concern of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is valid. The RSS had also completed the work of establishing the idol of Ramlala in Ayodhya, for which it had launched a nationwide movement. The government has also been of the BJP for the last 11 years, but the basic concept of Ram Rajya has not been realized. Mahatma Gandhi also envisioned Ram Rajya. At its root was the easy availability of fundamental rights for the people. Education and health are the most important among these. Tulsi Das has written about Ram Rajya – Ram Raj Baithe Tirloka, Harshita Bhaye Gaye Sab Soka! That is, Ram Rajya is where there is no sorrow and suffering. The root cause of sorrow is the lack of access to education and health facilities.
